New Jersey: The Biosecurity State?

February 24, 2003

TARGETS GALORE. The shortfall led Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) on Jan. 24 to term homeland-security efforts by Washington "a myth written in rhetoric, inadequate resources, and a new bureaucracy." She released a survey of 48 local governments that showed that 70% had received no federal funding for beefing up local anti-terrorism coverage. By contrast, cities increased spending by $2.6 billion on security costs, according to the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Why New Jersey for a pilot program? Few states are as target-rich. It's home to the nation's second-busiest container port, multiple passenger- and freight-rail lines, a major interstate truck route, Newark Liberty International Airport, 30 petrochemical-storage terminals, chemical plants, two nuclear plants, and much of the U.S. drug industry. And it has the haunting example of the Twin Towers disaster's aftermath when carpenters, plumbers, nurses, and dozens of people with needed skills, many from New Jersey, were delayed for security concerns.

"We're going to credential volunteers, have them on a Web site, list their skills, and match them to the job," says Josh Weston, former CEO and Chairman of ADP in Roseland. "If we need 50 bull